It's just stunning to see Pope Francis chastising his own church and its leaders for using Catholic beliefs in a determined drive to discriminate against people. But make no mistake: That's exactly what he did in a new interview, forcefully taking on bishops, cardinals and lay leaders who've often used homophobia and attacks on women as means to raise lots of money and wield political power.
Pointedly criticizing the church for being "obsessed" with gay marriage, contraception and abortion, Francis' comments are a sharp rebuke of prominent American leaders in the church, like Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, who, just a few months ago, issued a bulletin to Catholic parishioners across the United States in which he told them to "pray, fast [and] sacrifice" -- in other words, obsess -- about the Supreme Court's then-impending decision in Edie Windsor's challenge of a key section of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a case that Dolan called "the 'Roe v. Wade' of marriage."
